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In a hundred different ways, we have slowly marginalized an entire category of critical professions, reshaping our expectations of a “good job” into something that no longer looks like work. A few years from now, an hour with a good plumber—if you can find one—is going to cost more than an hour with a good psychiatrist. At which point we’ll all be in need of both.

Most of us are lucky enough to not need to work a physical job, but that doesn’t mean the work of a physical craftsperson isn’t absolutely vital or society. I think Mike’s right. We’ve discounted this type of work too much. Why don’t we still teach Shop in high school? Why do we perpetuate the myth that vocational school and apprenticeships are somehow less worthy? The world might be more global, but the downsides of that globalization are placing a premium on local craftsmanship and local products.